Friday, May 26, 2017

John Schofield publishes essay on St Paul's Deanery

Our own John Schofield has published an essay entitled "A Reconstruction of the Deanery of St Paul's Cathedral in the Time of John Donne, and Its Setting for His Collection of Paintings," in the London Journal, go here. As Schofield describes it, "This paper proposes a reconstruction of the deanery of St Paul's Cathedral at the time of the death of John Donne (Dean 1621–1631).

"The reconstruction stems from two documents: Donne's will of 1631, and a survey of the deanery when it was in parliamentary hands in 1649.

"The will is remarkable because it details bequests of 21 paintings, all but three specified by their location in rooms throughout the deanery.

"The original number of paintings was larger, as some were to remain.

"By comparing the will with the survey, it is possible to allocate paintings to specific rooms and in effect walk round the house, at least on its ground floor, in 1631 or 1649."

Congratulations to John Schofield, to whom the Virtual St Paul's Cathedral Project is indebted in so many, many ways.

And thanks to Mary Ann Lund, our new Advisory Committee member, who pointed out this publication to me.

We can promise that Schofield's discoveries will be incorporated into the visual model we are developing for the Cathedral Project.